I can hear them laugh, make fun of her, but to me she is beautiful. Her slender pink body, fluffy white head and tail. We laugh as sometimes I cannot tell which way up she is. My friends say she is not like us, that it is not right that we should be together. My family give me disapproving looks but are too kind to say anything. They get annoyed when they speak to her and she doesn't respond. "She is just shy," I tell them, covering for her silence. But I love her, and that is all that matters.
We have planned it, our lives together, we will get married soon. It won't be a big ceremony, I don't think she will like that. She doesn't put forward any ideas though, just agrees with me, agrees with everything I want. She just wants to make me happy. After the ceremony we will find a nice spot on the coral to set up home, make it look beautiful, hang sea grass from the rafters, decorate with sea snail shells. It will be our palace, a palace fit for my princess. What am I saying?! She will be my queen then.
After that we will swim fast, frolicking around the coral, teasing the anemones and helping our neighbours. I will get a respectable job, one that pays the bills and allows her to live in the manner she has become accustomed. Then what? Well, I don't want to talk about the details. You know. Come on, don't make me say it. Let's just cut to the chase, we will have babies, a whole family which will bring us even closer together. She can stay home and look after them when I'm at work. Or maybe we will be one of those new age families, it's all about equality these days. I could stay at home, bounce the kids on my tail, race them around the reef. All too soon they will be grown up, having their own adventures, finding their own romances. We will be there to celebrate the successes and pick them up when they fall.
"Aaaaacccchhhhhoooooo!" Oh sorry, hope I didn't startle you. I just can't seem to get rid of this cold. This aching in my body and tired feeling. Some days our dreams for the future are the only things that keep me going. But hey, let's look on the bright side, a cold can't last forever.
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A Budding Romance #PlanetOrPlastic
RomanceMy entry to the National Geographic Planet OR Plastic? competition. Based on the cover picture, a seahorse meets what he thinks is his perfect partner.
